Charlemagne (dude on the left) said that. I’ve heard before that learning a second language not only gives you a whole different and new way of thinking but, most importantly, it gives you an insight into the culture of the people who speak it that you would never have otherwise gotten. This is why I say, in my About page (please, read it, it’s not the usual mundane “hi, I’m Bob, I hope you enjoy my articles. Ta!!” crap), how important learning a second language is to me with regards to travel and learning about other people and other cultures.

A recent Wall Street Journal article, Lost in Translation (go, read it, it’s excellent; also, thanks to Roosh for bringing that to my attention), goes into great detail about this and comes to the same conclusion many others have already come to: which language you speak significantly and uniquely shapes your perception of the world and everything around you. Now, given this, just how important do you think it is to be able to speak a people’s language if you want to be able to understand them and communicate with them?

A quick side note: if you’re interested in teaching yourself Spanish…

I have a short post and video (that are free to read and view of course, won’t cost you more than a few minutes of your time) on how to do precisely that with the system that I put together which allowed me to become fluent in Spanish in just 6 months after years of trial-and-error by watching Spanish-language TV shows (like telenovelas, hence the name of the system) and movies, reading Spanish books and comics, and listening to Spanish music. If this sounds interesting to you, check it out by clicking the link below (the following link should open in a new tab or window for you when you click it so I’m not asking you to leave this article here):

I also include some quick and valuable tips for learning Spanish as well as a couple of the most useful free Spanish-learning websites that I recommend.

You can go to a country, live there for decades, not learn the language, and never really get to where you understand the people, the culture, and what’s going on around you. Someone who’s fluent in the language and eager to interact with the locals may very well gain a deeper understanding of them in a month than the first guy would in 10 years of living there. I’ve heard countless stories of English-speaking expats in places like Thailand and, more recently, Hong Kong, who never learn the language and, worse, only hang out with other expats. They have their own little English-speaking equivalent of what Chinatown was in the early 20th century in the United States: they don’t speak more than a few words of the local language, they rarely interact with the locals (especially if they don’t speak English), and they just don’t care enough to learn the local language (they all say they want to learn it, but they just don’t care enough to actually do it, and so they never do). That’s pathetic. They’re pathetic. Don’t be like that.

I wouldn’t expect someone who’s just going to visit a country for a few days or a couple of weeks to bother getting fluent before going, I understand that. I’m primarily talking about if you’re going to be there for a few months or more. [Pardon my short digression here, but it needs to be said] However, even if you’re only visiting for a short time you still have an obligation to learn some basic phrases and words that, frankly, you could just memorize on the plane ride over, so there’s no excuse whatsoever for not knowing how to say these things, no matter how short the duration of your stay. You should know how to, at a minimum, say “Please, thank you, excuse me, help, etc.” and…most importantly: “Do you speak English?”. No one minds if you ask them if they speak English because you’re a tourist visiting their country for a few days and you don’t speak the local language, everyone finds it rude when you ask them this in English. Dude, it takes all of about 10-20 minutes to learn that stuff above, and the bare minimum that you need (“Excuse me, do you speak English?”) can be learned in 30 seconds, so there’s just no excuse for not speaking someone’s native language to them when you first approach them in their own country.

I hope that inspires, helps, or motivates someone. Leave a comment

A Quick Note Before We End…

I’ve got two posts that I’ve put up that I’m recommending everyone interested in learning Spanish go read if they haven’t already (if you have, ignore this, sorry): How to avoid wasting months learning Spanish the wrong way (basically this is my “how to get started right in learning Spanish” post for complete beginners) and The Telenovela Method where I cover how to use popular media like movies, music, and books to learn Spanish. Additionally you can check out the front page for a more complete list of my best and most popular posts.

Cheers,

Andrew

Get my list of the internet's top 33 FREE Spanish-learning resources here!

I put together a list of the internet’s Top 33 Free Spanish-learning resources, my favorite language exchanges and Spanish chat rooms, and more. I’ve spent a great deal of time putting together a 3-part series of articles for you on the internet’s best free resources for the Spanish-learner that you’ll get when you sign up for my newsletter–in addition to all of what you get below, I’ll be sure to send you any updates about cool new sites, resources, and learning tips and techniques that I come up with (I’m currently putting together a whole series that will teach you in great detail precisely how I go about learning a new language):
Part 1: A very long list of my favorite Top 33 free online Spanish-learning resources (tools, references, sites with free lessons, articles, blogs, forums, etc.) that’s far too long to include here, especially with all the other stuff I’ve got here that’s available just on this site alone, and I’d like to offer it to you (completely free, you don’t have to do anything other than sign up) right now.
Part 2: I explain what language exchanges are (essentially they allow you free access to an unlimited number of native speakers to practice your Spanish with), why they’re absolutely essential if you’re teaching yourself (I’m serious when I say this: it’s impossible to get fluent without them if you’re learning a foreign language on your own), how to use them, and which ones are the best.
Part 3: I cover chat rooms which are specifically devoted to connecting you with native Spanish speakers who want to learn English so you can chat with them in Spanish (and they’ll help and correct you) and then you do the same for them with their English (these are completely free to use, but rather hard to find, but I’ll tell you where the best ones are!). Sign up below!